


A Second Encounter

by zillah975



Series: An Unkindness of Ravens [4]
Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 13:38:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2509727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zillah975/pseuds/zillah975
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seya meets her new enemy a second time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Encounter

A day later the wound still troubled her despite her potions, but she couldn’t sit idle in Stormwind waiting for the others to return from their business in Pandaria. Instead she put herself on light duty and took the boat to Kalimdor, and in Darnassus learned that the Sentinels at New Thalanaar were under attack from the Grimtotem again. The fighting was hot when she arrived, and she flung herself into it. From one to the next she moved, cutting down the Grimtotem marauders almost before they knew she was there and then darting through the shadows to reach the next, and the next, her bloodied blades singing.

At last she paused to find her breath. The forest floor was littered with bodies, but the battle still raged. For the moment no one was near, and she stood panting, re-orienting herself. 

But something caught at the edge of her vision, some black and red horror watching her, and she spun towards it. Saw nothing but the chaos of the battle, but she felt it, she felt it in the chill that crawled under her skin.

She scowled at herself. “Don’t be a child,” she muttered. Near the water a Sentinel was set upon by two Grimtotem, and Seya slipped into the shadows and raced towards them, but she barely reached them before what seemed an explosion of death took all three, leaving only herself alive — herself and the Sin’dorei, his cruel gaze fixed on her where he stood over the bodies.

She bolted for the trees, but something struck her a blinding blow and she staggered, unable to move. By the time she could focus her eyes again, the Blood Elf stood before her.

Her pulse roared in her ears. “You again,” she said with a scowl. He was covered in the blood of Sentinels he’d slaughtered as if they were nothing.

"I see you survived."

"So it would seem," she answered, casting about for an escape as she scrambled for a way to distract him from finishing the job. "What do  _you_  want?”

"To kill you…. Or come with me! This is your second chance. I’m not sure if you’ll survive this time." 

Was that scorn in his voice, or amusement? Or neither — she was a scorpid beneath his boot, and her sting as impotent. She regarded him balefully. “What do you think to gain?”

"It’s up to you," he said. "Fight to your death. Or perhaps there might be a chance that you will live if you come with me."

She stared at him. “No, I think we both know it’s up to you. Do what you will, you know I’m not strong enough to defeat you.” It was sadly true. She’d seen him fight; she stood no chance against him. “Do you kill kittens, too?”

"My hands are too stained with blood to think twice about killing anything, including kittens."

She shook her head. She was trembling, her heart racing. “I won’t come with you. I see no gain to myself, or to you, down that path.”

She couldn’t read his expression. “You will gain your life.”

Seya had seen Hooves after the sweet-natured Draenei had spent a few days in the tender care of Ravenhul and his foul compatriots, and she cursed in her native Darnassian. She wouldn’t survive this, but she’d be damned if she’d go down like a cringing cur. “Liar,” she spat, and grasped for the shadows that could conceal her, then darted behind him and struck him as hard as she could.

Whether she got a lucky shot or had simply surprised him with such an insane tactic — striking him! — she knew not, only that, miraculously, he had not cut her down. She slashed again with the wicked edge of her dagger against a sliver of exposed flesh.

And then like clouds breaking before the sun, her sense came rushing back, and she stifled a terrified scream. In a heartbeat he would turn, he would kill her. But one last, desperate chance remained. She summoned a puff of dusk and sprinted for the hills, leaving behind only an image of herself where she had stood.

His voice chased her through the trees. “Where did you go?!" he screamed. _"Bastard!”_ Seya flew, ducking through the undergrowth as agile as a cat and as panicked as a bird. “I will find you, Kal’dorei! Then I’m going to pluck you apart! _Limb from limb!”_

She ran until her lungs burned, then fumbled for her hearthstone, her heart pounding painfully in her chest as she summoned herself back to Nethergarde Keep. If only she could reach it before Ravenhul caught her, but his furious cries still echoed through the forest and she prayed silently to Elune and the Light and whatever gods would listen, until the hearthstone took her in its shimmering grasp.

The blessed stones of the Keep resolved around her, and she slumped against the wall. Outside she heard only the usual sounds of the Nethergarde infantry, the clang of the blacksmiths, the clatter of the horses. A moment later she hurried from the Keep towards the flight master. She wasn’t going to linger here and wait for that madman to pursue her, no. She’d hie herself to the very throne room of the King if she had to. She wanted to live long enough to sink her blade deep into that Sin’dorei’s wicked heart, once and for all.

**Author's Note:**

> As before, all quotes from Ravenhul and descriptions are from my chat log. All love to Ravenhul's player for giving Seya such a wonderful enemy!


End file.
